[Deck] UW(x) Landstill

[lambert101]

The lands are the same as the 4 ponder miracles list. The cantrips help smooth out land drops and have action. Answering threats gives you time for consecutive land drops into end game bombs. This weekend so many people forced a bolt only to the creature get swords next turn. Then this 1-1 trade acts as delve fuel.

[Philipp2293]

Nice deck, I used your finisher configuration (-1 Assemble the Legions) for my own take on UWR control today and it was quite nice. Did you ever have problems finishing in time? And how were your wins distributed between Jace Ultimate and Damage?

[lambert101]

With all the red blast around, assemble was awesome. I'd say all my game wins came between blood moon, batterskull, and assemble. Jace ended up being a lightning rod that bought time. My new list with 21 lands has been testing decently. My major thought now is for the 60th card to be the 3rd Spell Pierce, 3rd Tundra, 1 pyroblast main, or 1 Engineered Explosives main. Right now it is Spell Pierce to have a more early game stack control to counter early cantrips or slam turn 4 blood moon. Please keep giving feed back. I am liking this as a control option to miracles.

[swordstoplowsharesguy]

Hey all,

I've been testing various UWR lists over the last couple months for Jersey and have ended up with a list that I think is competitive. I've gone 19-8 (total) in one small GPT (which I won) and several "daily" style events at my local shop (some cards have varied over that testing period). That said, I know that the best decks are never brewed by one person, and would really appreciate some help in optimizing the following list (especially considering my lack of experience with standstill generally). Any commentary is welcome, good or bad, and if there are any questions about the card choices please just let me know!

UWR Stonestill
Creatures (10)
4 – Stoneforge Mystic
2 – True-Name Nemesis
1 – Vendilion Clique
3 – Snapcaster Mage

Spells (28)
4 – Brainstorm
3 – Swords to Plowshares
4 – Lightning Bolt
4 – Force of Will
3 – Spell Pierce
2 – Pyroblast
2 – Standstill
3 – Treasure Cruise
1 – Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 – Umezawa’s Jitte
1 – Batterskull

Lands (22)

3 – Volcanic Island
3 – Tundra
2 – Island
1 – Plains
4 – Mishra’s Factory
4 – Flooded Strand
3 – Scalding Tarn
2 – Arid Mesa

Sideboard (15)
1 – Mountain
2 – Pyroclasm
1 – Swords to Plowshares
3 – Meddling Mage
2 – Rest in Peace
1 – True Name Nemesis
1 – Sword of Fire and Ice
1 – Pyroblast
1 – Blood Moon
1 – Wear//Tear
1 – Relic of Progenitus

In terms of the more common match ups my testing has indicated the following, in case you were wondering:

Elves: Unfavourable
Infect: Very Favourable
UR Delver: Favourable
Reanimator: Close
Death and Taxes: Favourable
RUG Cruise Delver: Unfavourable
Burn: Close
Miracles: Favourable

I don't have enough data on the other matches to really say one way or the other. Some of these results are only based on 2 tournament matches so it isn't by any means conclusive, just my impressions. Also: Main deck red blasts are the nuts. Try it.

Thanks!

P.S. -- Does anyone have a sense of how to play standstill in matches where an opponent may also be playing man lands? (I.e., tar pit out of deathblade?) Is it correct to not run out standstill if you don't have 1 or more factories, and is it correct to board them out? Just wondering how best to evaluate those situations.

[H]

P.S. -- Does anyone have a sense of how to play standstill in matches where an opponent may also be playing man lands? (I.e., tar pit out of deathblade?) Is it correct to not run out standstill if you don't have 1 or more factories, and is it correct to board them out? Just wondering how best to evaluate those situations.

If they only run one man-land, I would probably keep them in. If they have more than one, I'd probably board them out. I would definitely board them out if they have man-lands and Wastelands though, that is far too risky.

[RogueMTG]

@swordstoplowsharesguy

I feel like you certainly have the tools to beat Elves, I am surprised to see it be unfavorable. Maybe find room for some number Engineered Explosives? It's also very good against most of the Delver threats.

If you think or know that your opponent has man-lands, dropping standstill onto a naked board without some number of factory in hand or in play is incredibly dangerous. I have done it before with Top in play and still not gotten there in time. Lists in the past have sometimes run a 3/2 or 4/2 Factory/Wasteland split to mitigate this, but it is a lot of colorless lands to commit to.

I would say that it makes your 2 of Standstills an easier board-out target, but not a "must" board out necessarily as you will have a man-land numbers advantage. (If they don't also run Wasteland)

[Holly]

Rasing the dead for funnsies:

Won a small tournament today playing the following list:
4 Brainstorm, 4 Standstill, 3 Dig through Time, 1 Fact or Fiction
4 Force of Will, 4 Spell Snare, 4 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshare, 1 Path to Exile, 2 Councils Judgement, 1 Supreme Verdict
4 Snapcaster Mage
8 Fetch, 3 Tundra, 2 Volcanic Island, 4 Island, 2 Plains, 4 Mishra's Factorie, 1 Faerie Conclave

SB:
3 Supreme Verdict, 2 Vedalken Shackles, 3 Pyroblast, 1 Red Elemental Blast, 1 Isochron Scepter, 2 Vendilion-Clique, 1 Containment Priest, 2 Pithing Needle

Note: I just played stuff I wanted to (Shakles, Scepter, FoF) despite them being non-optimal. Did not include Jace because no particular reason.

R1 vs Junk
2 Easy games, G1 I resolve 4 Standstills and the second 2 Verdicts make short work of his creatures so I could win easily.

R2 vs Miracles (RIP-Helm-Engergy Field)
G1 is a grindfest but I've got the upper hand the whole time, when he's low on life he topdecks a Energy Flux which I let resolve, panicking for a moment since I allready used (and flashbacked) 1 of my Judgements and used like 2 Snapcasters.. some DTT's found me another SCM for the win.
G2 wasn't particular close either. I was low on lands (like 5-6 compared to his 10) but had the hand full of counters and won easily.

R3 vs Sneakshow
G1 He cantrips for a few turns while I build up a clock via Snapcaster-Beatdown and lose the final counterfight over a Sneak Attack barely but he's on 8, has no mana and only 1 card in hand while I have 8 power on the board.
G2 He cantrips for a while and I start to clock him with a Factorie.. After he has enough lands he slamms all 4 Sneak Attacks in 2 turns, I counter all of them and finish the game with a SCM and a Counterspell in hand.

R4 vs Painter
G1 I counter everything relevant and clock him (starting turn 15 or something though his Ancient Tombs helped), he puts down a Bridge which I let resolve. I kill him after I found a Council's Judgement for it.
G2 I see next to no counter (1 CS, 1 FoW in the whole game Oo) but would've won after a long grindy game but I manage to miss the second Grindstone on board and chose to destroy his 2 Bridges (to win within a turn) via my Blasts instead of his Painter.. doh.
G3 We don't have enough time.

R5 vs Dredge
G1 I stand no chance.
G2 I mull to 4, (3 lands, 1 StP) he to 6.. he never finds a dredge but starts beating me down with hardcasts DR (Street Wraight) and Flame Kin Zealots.. I can answer those and kill him with Containment Priets etc.
G3 He mulls to 5 while I keep a hand of Island, Plains, Factorie, StP, Verdict, 2 Counterspell. Thankfully he lacks action and I manage to draw another Island and my Counterspell turned actually good. I got rid of 2 Bridges via blocking an Ichorid with my Factorie, followed it up by a Verdict and then had enough StP's/SCM and counter to neutralize everything he did.

All in all 4-0-1 and had a good time countering stuff.

[pandaman]

Nice report. Love the old school (no Jace) and new school (Dig) mix!

[EunB]

3 Mastery of the Unseen
3 Exalted Angel
3 Willbender
1 Phyrexian Dreadnought

4 Standstill
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Dig Through Time
2 Counterspell
2 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Council's Judgement

4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Tundra
4 Island
2 Plains
1 Karakas

Sideboard:
2 Rest in Peace
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Flusterstorm
2 Path to Exile
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Terminus
3 Counterbalance

Played this list for fun and cashed out of a local tournament.

Played Mastery because of its interaction with Standstill but mostly because I like the card almost as much as I like Exalted Angel. Flipped up Angel a few times and would've beaten 4c Delver with her but couldn't find 4th land. Never got to live the dream with Willbender, but people played around him a LOT once they saw I had him. I also sadly didn't see my singleton Dreadnought nor get to manifest him.

Beat BUG Control, The Gate, and Manaless Dredge while losing to 4c Delver (primarily off mana screw / bad keeps).

BUG Control decayed my first Mastery and died to the 2nd. The Gate can't beat Standstill (at least not that version w/o Chains), Manaless Dredge killed me g1, then insta-scooped to RIP both SB games. 4c Delver did the usual wastelanding / stifling of my mana. G2 I stood a chance but got BS locked and couldn't find the 4th land to flip Exalted Angel which he has no way of beating.

I'm excited to test Myth Realized -- allows for entirely creatureless control build which should be extremely strong. I think that card is going to drastically change Legacy.

[Piceli89]

That seems slightly janky and too much danger of cool things, imo.

I necro myself after a long hiatus from this forum (I don't play Legacy anymore anyways) to provide advice for a deck I used to love.



This is very good in Landstill. Under Standstill it threatens a clock that can grow large very fast- especially when considering that this deck only runs non-creature spells. In those draw-go dead turns you can toss mana into it. Basically it is manland 5-8 with the difference that it can't be Wastelanded and, unlike aggressive fish-esque builds which rely on Delver or Lavamancer, this doesn't die to Pyroblast/Lightning Bolt (if played correctly)/Liliana.

Special bonus: for those builds playing Sensei's Divining Top you can "combo out" with double SDT by drawing one into each other to grow Myth Realized to a very huge number of counters in short time.

What do you think? This and Dig Through Time may be a fresh breeze of air for the archetype. Given Landstill has naturally a good matchup against Miracle and is also slightly more resilient in the face of BUG, I would give these new toys a spin.

[TnA_Will]

Here is the list I am currently running. I call it BitterStill. I first built the deck 4 years ago and got out of magic for 2 years and just got back in. I've played it now in 2x star city events (after upgrades!) and all my losses have been to fast combo decks... I have lost to TES 3 times, U/G cloudpost, and OOPS all spells....

I won games against Elves, Temer Delver, Death and Taxes, U/G infect, Shardless Agent, ReAnimator, Miracles, and R/G Depths/Lands.dec

I'm putting it out there because the event I played in Indy, I had several people around me asking for the list and said they would be interested in playing it. Hoping some of those people see this post and decides to try and sleeve it up and going forward could help with it's combo match ups!

Lands (23)
1 Creeping Tar Pit [WWK]
4 Flooded Strand [ONS]
1 Island [DDH]
1 Karakas [LEG]
4 Mutavault [MOR]
1 Plains [DDH]
4 Polluted Delta [ONS]
1 Scrubland [3ED]
3 Tundra [3ED]
3 Underground Sea [3ED]

Creatures (10)
3 Spellstutter Sprite [LRW]
4 Stoneforge Mystic [WWK]
3 True-Name Nemesis [C13]

Other Spells (27)
1 Batterskull [NPH]
4 Bitterblossom [MOR]
4 Brainstorm [5ED]
4 Force of Will [ALL]
3 Ponder
3 Spell Pierce [ZEN]
3 Standstill [ODY]
4 Swords to Plowshares [DDF]
1 Umezawa's Jitte [BOK]

Sideboard (12)
2 Containment Priest [C14]
2 Ethersworn Canonist [ALA]
2 Flusterstorm [CMD]
3 Rest in Peace [RTR]
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Vendilion Clique [MOR]

[klaus]

@picelli: haha get outta here, italian noob!
<3 from berlin.

[TnA_Will]

This is very good in Landstill.

As soon as I saw that card I was talking with my group about testing it as a 2 of in my version. I'm not sure what it will replace yet, but I think it's worth a look.

[Piceli89]

@picelli: haha get outta here, italian noob!
<3 from berlin.

You are still in the mtg-heroin circle, too, I see. Betcha sleevin' some gay stuff like Miracles :P. Get back the best version of yourself and buy again into Landstill.

@TnA: I think it's better to play the four-of. This could imply changing the aim of the deck from strictly controlling to something more aggro-control-esque, ala those UWr lists that did results time ago with Geists, Snaps and Cliques (if i remember correctly). I think Standstill has never been fully explored under an aggressive light with white (whereas UR is the only shell it is being played nowadays) but in that case. Myth Realized could help in speeding up the clock and getting the best out of conditional counterspells like Spell Pierce by pressuring your opponent to do something to not die, whereas traditional Landstill never had the opportunity to do so because frankly Mishra's Factory sucks in 2015 Legacy.

It also begs for a plethora of cheap spells (cc=1) i.e. the formula for winning decks in this format, so there would be little point to stick to the old "Wrath + Planeswalkers" equation, which by itself isn't enough anymore to be successful- because if that was the purpose, Miracles would be plain better.

Less talk, more demonstration:

23 lands

4 Standstill
4 Brainstorm
2-3 Ponder
(2 Dig Through Time)

4 Myth Realized
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Geist/Vendilion Clique

4 Swords to Plowsharez
3 Lightning Bolt

4 FoW
3 Spell Pierce
3 Spell Snare (?)

Manabase is going to suck, but that's what you pay for having colorless lands in a tri-color shell. Ponder is there to mitigate this.

At a first glance this should fare well against fair decks and combo.
Myth allows to sit under a Standstill, making land-drops and growing a threat that is faster than Factory. Most of all, it leaves mana open, whereas pinging with Factory cuts you off mana to play Pierce against their Duresses/Show and Tells/ecc. when they decide to crack the Standstill, if doing so mainphase (i.e. without a Brainstorm).

Turn one Myth, turn two Standstill is also the "nut" start the previous incarnation missed, not having a turn one threat.

I hope this will see the light of the day somehow and find people smashing with 17/17 fake monks.

[pandaman]

Oh baby, the smack talk in this thread is REAL!

Also, testing a sick UW Standstill deck I shall release soon.

[RiverCake]

Hey guys Landstill noob here!
Why dont you guys play delver? He can get droped turn one and has a real nice flip rate in this deck. And is just an insane threat under standstill :/

[FoolofaTook]

Hey guys Landstill noob here!
Why dont you guys play delver? He can get droped turn one and has a real nice flip rate in this deck. And is just an insane threat under standstill :/

UWx Landstill has a fairly high percentage of permanents in the list. Delver would add 4 more permanents at the likely expense of additional instants and sorceries removed. If you're already running 4 creatures that are easily removed and also running 25-26 instants and sorceries then adding Delver might be a good idea. However you're unlikely to be playing Landstill in that situation.

23+ lands, with 24 or 25 probably normal.
8+ other non-creature permanents (Standstill, Engineered Explosives, Jace the Mindsculptor, etc.)

Now find room to put 4 Delvers in the list without removing instants and sorceries.

Delver is really good with Standstill but nothing else really adds up.

[RiverCake]

UWx Landstill has a fairly high percentage of permanents in the list. Delver would add 4 more permanents at the likely expense of additional instants and sorceries removed. If you're already running 4 creatures that are easily removed and also running 25-26 instants and sorceries then adding Delver might be a good idea. However you're unlikely to be playing Landstill in that situation.

23+ lands, with 24 or 25 probably normal.
8+ other non-creature permanents (Standstill, Engineered Explosives, Jace the Mindsculptor, etc.)

Now find room to put 4 Delvers in the list without removing instants and sorceries.

Delver is really good with Standstill but nothing else really adds up.

Thanks for the answer :) That makes sense

[FoolofaTook]

Dreadstill runs Delver now out of a Ur Landstill-ish base. The trade-offs are adding 4x Daze and removing 2x+ Counterspells and 2 lands. You might want to look there if you like the idea of Delver in a Landstill-ish shell.

[rlesko]

Anyone still check this thing?

Played URw landstill on Friday and Sunday at local events. Won 16 player legacy FNM, narrowly missed top 8 at a 34 person event today (went 4-2, bad breakers). For reference, here is my list

4 Mishra's Factory
1 Faerie Conclave
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Volcanic Island
3 Tundra
1 Island

3 Snapcaster Mage

4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
2 Counterspell
3 Standstill
2 Dig Through Time
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Dack Fayden

SB:
1 Pithing Needle
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Flusterstorm
3 Pyroblast
2 Wear // Tear
2 Containment Priest
2 Meddling Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Sulfur Elemental

For FNM
Round 1
Some guy playing a fallen empires mono white banding deck. Essentially a bye.
1-0 (2-0)

Round 2
Maverick
Game 1 I had a few removal spells and a snapcaster mage + counterspell. That with a couple wastelands was enough to get there. Game 2 I didn't find my swords to plowshares and a big Knight killed me. Game 3 I made a bad misplay by wasteland-ing when he had an active knight and dark depths active. oops.

I think I went -3 Spell Pierce, +2 Wear // Tear, +1 Sulfur Elemental, I felt like I wanted some help for this match up but there wasn't anything that great out of the board
I felt like the spell pierces didn't have any targets and the wear // tear obviously can kill equipment or a sylvan library. Sulfur elemental kills thalia and Mom.

1-1 (3-2)

Round 3
Reanimator
Playing my friend on reanimator. I've found that the combo match up is very swingy. There is enough permission pre board to win game 1, it just depends on the type of draw you get. If you get the removal heavy hand against combo you obviously lose. But if you draw the counterspells, spell pierces, forces, and snapcaster mages the match up actually seems pretty favorable. I steal game 1 from him. Game 2 he gets Iona on white and I furiously dig (pun intended) for a Jace but can't find him. Game 3 I mull to 5, but manage the blowout play of flashing in a containment priest with reanimate targetting Griselbrand on the stack. take 8 and exile your Griselbrand. After the game he shows me 3 exhumes in his hand. Nice!

(-4 Lightning Bolt, -2 EE -2 Stifle, +1 Surgical, +2 Containment Priest, +3 Pyroblast, +1 Vendilion Clique, +1 Flusterstorm)
The EE's are useless game 1 and game 2 + 3 I'm not anticipating any permanent based hate from reanimator. The bolts are obviously not very good. Left the swords to plowshares in just in case he managed to get something into play. The pyroblasts are there for Show and Tell or to counter his force of wills. Being able to play at instant speed is important here (all our creatures have flash). As a side note I don't find Meddling Mage to be an effective hatebear vs reanimator, as you have to cast it on your turn and we don't often know the contents of our opponents hand (do you name reanimate or exhume? etc.)

2-1 (5-3)

Round 4
standings are posted and theres 8 people with 6 or more points and then a bunch of 3 pointers so everyone can safely draw in...5 minute round woohoo!

2-1-1 (5-3-1)

top 8 - I am seed 7 so I will be on the draw all top 8. not good for the stifle deck.
round 5
Esper Mentor (gitaxian probe, cabal therapy, monastery mentor, dig through time shell)
My other friend playing his epser mentor brew (had the privilege of basically knowing his deck, but he also knows my deck as we often share out deck building ideas).
Hes on the play and leads with deathrite. I bolt it and pass. He ponders and bricks on land. luckily I have the wasteland to punish him for it. He bricks for a couple turns on lands while I make my land drops. thats pretty much game over for him as I have commanding board position. Game 2 he plays some guys, and I kill them. I don't really remember specifically what happened this game but having access to stifle + waste and a ton of removal this match up seems very favorable. not to mention out of the board Sulfur Elemental and Crucible of Worlds, with EE main. He really needs the nut draw to win.

(-2 Force, -1 Spell Pierce -1 Stifle, +1 Sulfur Elemental, +1 Crucible, +2 Pyroblast)
Left 2 force in on the draw just because this deck can handle the card disadvantage and having the extra bit of gas to push a standstill or dig through is great. Pyroblast is a hard counter for his digs and cantrips but I didn't want to cut all my pierces since he can thoughtseize / cabal therapy me. sulfur elemental is the nuts (and i know he has lingering souls out the board). crucible since he plays 0 basics.

3-1-1 (7-3-1)

Round 6
GW cloudpost (white for sacred ground, not sure what else)

Game 1 I catch him off guard with a stifle. I find my wastelands and am able to keep him from establishing his posts. He gained 15 life from glimmerposts throughout the game (he had all 4 glimmerposts in play, and even copied it with Vesuva). This in conjunction with my having to swords to plowshares his primeval titan and it was a loooong game. At one point I was searching for a counterspell for his Primeval Titan but I stifled the ETB trigger, then swords it (almost missed this line of play, that would have been baaaaad). Basically I had to answer every spell he cast or I lose...but we got there!

(-2 Lightning Bolt, -2 Engineered Explosives, +2 Wear // Tear, +1 Vendilion Clique, +1 Crucible of Worlds)
Looking back on it I should have brought the Needle in for his tops...not sure why I didn't. Brought the wear // tear anticipating needle on wasteland (classic move out of cloudpost decks). Crucible since waste lock is a thing. Clique for a little more pressure at instant speed.

4-1-1 (9-3-1)

Round 7
Shardless BUG

2 pretty grindy games. Nothing very notable happening, he doesn't have the stack interaction to stop things like Standstill or force his visions through, and doesn't have the removal to kill Mishra's Factories (lol abrupt decay). Post board the match up gets very good for me as I have 3 pyroblasts.

(-1 Stifle, -2 Force, +3 Pyroblast)
I left the Spell pierces in because of hymn and liliana. Dack was great as I actually got to steal an artifact! (stole his shardless agent!)

5-1-1 (11-3-1)

And I get enough store credit for a Dack Fayden and some leftover (was borrowing a Dack Fayden from my friend). If anything doesn't make sense its because I'm trying to recall events from Friday night and its 2:30 am on Monday Morning. Today I beat Grixis Delver 2-1 (1-0, 2-1), Lost to burn 0-2 (1-1, 2-3), Lost to Omni tell splash white for mentor 0-2 (1-2, 2-5), Beat Miracles 2-1 (2-2, 4-6), Beat UR delver 2-0 (3-2, 6-6), and Beat my friend on esper mentor again 2-0 (4-2, 8-6). The burn match up probably needs some help in the sideboard though I'm not sure what. Maybe a hydroblast or two. I feel like the omnitell match up is ok and I drew poorly and sideboarded incorrectly (didn't leave any removal spells in the deck, it seems like all the omnitell decks are splashing for young p nowadays so some removal should probably be left in).